Help us Create Brill's Content Check out Stuff We Like

Between the Lines Daily Stuff We Like Complaint Board Answer Man Sneak Preview of this month's cover story Table of Contents Letter from the Editor Report from the Ombudsman Letters to the Editor The Best and Worst White House Reporters Best of the Web Salary Report Summer Reading Fearless Predictions: The Content World, 2005 TV Picks 1998 Archive 1999 Archive Letter from Steven Brill Our Corrections Policy Our Privacy Policy Message Boards Live Chat Schedule Who We Are Contact Us Reader Suggestions Subscribe to Brill's Content Order Back Issues

NOTEBOOK: Tracking The "Clinton Love Child" Story Issue Date: March 1999 How does the media food chain work? On January 1, Matt Drudge broke his "world exclusive": Star magazine had arranged for a 13-year-old Arkansas boy to undergo a DNA test to see if he was President Clinton's son. Here is a list of the U.S. news organizations that spread what we now know to be the bogus "love child" story (and when they did so) by either reporting the rumor or reporting on the media frenzy it caused -- before there was any evidence to support the claim. On January 9, TIME Daily --Time magazine's website-- broke further news: The DNA test had revealed that the president and the boy are unrelated. January 01 Drudge Report January 02 Drudge (on Fox News Channel) January 03 New York Post, New York Daily News January 04 The O'Reilly Factor (Fox News Channel), Rivera Live (CNBC) January 05 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Boston Herald January 06 The Washington Times January 07 The Arizona Republic, The Hotline January 08 The O'Reilly Factor calls it "the most ridiculous item of the day." SUBSCRIBE | ABOUT | MESSAGE BOARDS | ARCHIVE Copyright Brill Media Ventures, L.P. 1999

March 1999 Search The Archives of Brill's Content